Action Lab Danger Zone 2016
Written by Rob Harrington
Illustrated by Axur Eneas
Coloured by Alessandro Alessi
Lettered by Chas! Pangburn
It's Christmas Eve! Time for Sleigher to cruise around the world and sling some presents, but wait-- the evil troll wizard, Leppaluoi, has trapped our main man inside the pocket dimension hidden within Santa's sack. Ain't that a buzzkill?! Who's going to slow down Leppaluoi and his family before they devour the souls of all the world's children and turn Sleigher into just another run-down, mythical metalhead?
If you want balls to the wall crazy then you’ve come to the right place. What impresses me though that amidst all the craziness is a message in this book. Sleigher has kind of renounced his family and his heritage after his mother’s untimely death. Being raised by his father, Santa Claus, life wasn’t easy and he was neglected more than he’d like to have been. So when he went off on his own to find his own destiny he left behind that spirit which makes Santa Santa.
While encountering Gryla and her minions, all of which have a myriad of reasons to hate the Santa family he learns what it means to be a Santa. Sure that’s great and he’ll do it his own way but it’s Christmas Eve and he’s trapped in the bag with Gryla and those that want him destroyed so before he can fulfill any kind of legacy or destiny he has he has deal with what’s in front of him.
Axur and Alessandro’s work on the interiors bring a light hearted whimsical approach to the story that immediately draws you in. From the absolutely wonderfully caricature style approach of Gryla as this hag/demon/witch type person to the way they use page layouts, angles and perspective to control the flow of the story is a dream come true. I love the creativity and imagination on display here it really has that desired effect on the reader that you can and can’t take seriously at the same moment.
Hysterical that sums this up in one word. From Axur’s and Alessandro’s depiction of these folks to the story itself this is the kind of adult off-kilter humour that you don’t realise is something you need in your life until you experience it. The events that transpire this issue set us up for what’s next the big finale with Gryla and what’s happened here. Can Sleigher get out of the bag in time to save Christmas? You’ll have to tune next month and find out.